Pot advocates vs. Obama supporters in Oakland

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Pot-advocates-vs-Obama-supporters-in-Oakland-3728788.php

Downtown protests were led by several hundred medical marijuana advocates angered by the U.S. Justice Department crackdown on dispensaries in Oakland and beyond. They were joined by antiwar demonstrators and people opposed to drilling in the Arctic.

But outside the Fox Theater, the site of an evening campaign stop, excited supporters of the president lined up for hours. Some wore Obama T-shirts, or Obama pins on their formal wear, as they dished out at least $100 per person, or up to $7,500 a ticket if they wanted a photo with the president.

Obama enjoyed great support in Oakland as he won the presidency, but his visit underscored that he has alienated some people in a city where poverty and crime have cast a larger shadow during the recession.

They saw an opportunity to scold him as he came to a theater that is the centerpiece of efforts to revitalize Oakland's downtown. It sits on the edge of Oaksterdam, the political center of the medical marijuana industry in the state, and on a street where Occupy activists have raged against capitalism.

At a medical marijuana rally, supporters waved flags decorated with pot leaves and carried glossy signs with slogans like, "Fight crime not cannabis." After a series of speeches - many by patients who said marijuana had helped them - they marched through downtown, blocking streets.